“If the prophet speaks in the LORD’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the LORD did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.”

What a beautifully appropriate verse to introduce prophecies from a man who said that a bald man would score in the first half of the Champions League Final (completely wrong), who predicted that the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram would be ‘forgotten about’ by March 2012 (tragically wrong). The shameless self-publicist who constantly makes ‘win-win’ prophecies where he can either claim credit for averting a disaster or accurately predicting it.

All together now: “That prophet has spoken without authority and need not be feared.”

So for once we agree with SCOAN. Before you watch TB Joshua’s heavily edited ‘prophecy videos’, have a good read of Deutoronomy 18:22. But read your own bibles. Don’t take Emmanuel TV at their word. This amazing misquote shows that they are either deliberately deceiving people, or are just ignorant and extremely careless. Or perhaps it’s a hidden message from God to those few discerning watchers of Emmanuel TV who actually know their bibles…

SCOAN are currently circulating a video on youtube claiming that TB Joshua predicted the recent attacks on US embassies in Libya, Egypt and Yemen. This shouldn’t really surprise us given that TB Joshua claims to have predicted every high profile tragedy that happens. However, this particular “prophecy” does help clarify the motives behind releasing these videos.

What did he prophecy?

In “a recent” Sunday service (note that “recent” in SCOAN videos usually means “quite a long time ago”, when it really is recent they give the actual date because that adds credibility to the claim) TB Joshua made the following claim:

“I am seeing an attack in an embassy, this attack will come… which embassy? It will be a kind of explosion and the embassy will burn they will begin to bring people out of this. Which Country? Which Embassy? I think these are the questions we need to ask.”

So back to the prophecy. An attack on an embassy. A fire. People being brought out (seems logical you would evacuate people from an attack). A little research will show that attacks on embassies happen multiple times a year. Last year there were 9 attacks on embassies, the year before there were 13. If you read some of the news stories you see many involve fires, and yes – people will be evacuated (brought out). Is that all you’ve got TB Joshua? You could have named the country, specified that an ambassador will be killed (a very rare event), given a hint on what the motivation behind the attack would be, but no – you stick to the blindingly obvious.

This, ladies and gentlemen is not a prophecy. It’s a probability.

So what about the motive? The video is undated, so it seems highly unlikely that it really was a “recent” service because they would have been sure to give the date (feel free to give us evidence to the contrary in the comments). Therefore we can assume that this was not the first event matching the prediction, so why wait until this event? Because it was the biggest news story of the moment. Multiple attacks, an ambassador killed, a mysterious and controversial video. SCOAN weren’t waiting for any event to claim TB Joshua predicted it, they were waiting for a super high profile event so they could ride on the wave of news stories, shamelessly self-promoting off the back of a terrible tragedy.

TB Joshua is up to his usual tricks, releasing a video claiming that he predicted the death of a famous person, this time former Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Of course, all he actually predicted (on an unspecified date that could have been months or even years ago) was that a famous American will die after having a serious ailment. Excuse us if we are not impressed. These were his words (broken English left uncorrected):

The giant nation should pray for one of its hero.
He has been wrestling for some time.
It’s left to him and his family and God.
But the vision I have three days ago
A hero in the United States
That when he pass on, people crying, shouting
‘this is not the right time for such a hero to go’

Pray for the protection for this hero… we pray to see whether it is changeable. We are still praying for God to protect this hero. He is wrestling, wrestling. There is an ailment that will take his life. This is affliction. Prayer.

As we have mentioned before, these vague prophecies are win-win for TB Joshua. If happens, it proves his prophetic powers, but if it doesn’t it was because his followers prayed against it happening. This post explores in more detail what is so problematic about TB Joshua’s so-called prophecies.

Of course, the main purpose of this soothsaying is to allow TB Joshua to jump on the bandwagon of a popular news story. Does it glorify God? Does it support and encourage? No. It is a cheap and blatant attempt to glorify TB Joshua. Let’s hope that most people have the wisdom to see through it.

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